You're on the right track leelanauX. Also a decent torch and backup torch. Don't forget if something happens to the TI and can't be sailed for whatever reason, you need provisions ( extra water etc ) to keep you going, especially if you're in a remote area. I have a 5ltr sealed container in the back of the AI that never gets removed. It's called the McGiver Pack and has all sorts of useless but potentially life saving stuff in it such as duck tape, nylon rope, occy strap, backup suncream, clips, backup torch, batteries, spare rudder pin, allen keys, vice grips, spare bandages, swiss army knife, matches, flint, signal mirror etc etc. Always prepare for the unexpected and hope you never need to use it.

I used to fish offshore a lot, usually 1-2 miles off shore occasionally more, and sometimes in offshore winds, I eventually got one of the new small EPIRBs with built in gps. If you have some extra cash you might consider one of those, mine was just under $300 new.

On PFD I had:WhistleSignal MirrorGPSEPIRBVHF RadioEmergency red tape, you unroll it for visibility

Tony some time back you gave this check list and included a "boarding ladder loop" - last week when I was sailing it was pretty hot so my girlfriend decided to go in for a swim - well getting from the trampoline to the water was easy enough but she struggled to get back on the kayak - it takes a fair amount of upper body strength to hoist yourself on to the trampoline . Yours is the only search result I got on the forum for this so I was wondering if you could share what your boarding ladder loop looks like? I know I could make one easily enough but why re-invent the wheel huh?

No worries Aussie. My device is incredibly basic (and I haven't had a chance to try it out yet here), but is designed for use without a trampoline. (However, you could easily reverse it by attaching one end to the rear deck, and have the bungee going forward instead).

It consists of a 10-12mm line tied to the front crossbar (inside the aka joint), with a piece of garden hose about a foot long (appropriate mix of measurement regimes LOL) on it, with a small knot tied about fiive feet along it, and then continuing to a bowline which I can slide out the aka until it is down on the vertical part of the aka. in day-to-day use, I attach a lightweight snap-shackle in front of the knot. This shackle is attached to some bungee cord which runs aft to wherever is convenient. The sole purpose of this bungee is to keep the rope loop tight and not dragging in the water when not in use..

The idea is that when trying to climb back on board, you undo the snapshackle, and put your foot in the now slack loop (with the hose making it easier on your foot) and stand up on it, enabling you to get your upper body over the rail. As the outer attachment is a bowline, you could adjust the length of the line while in the water to suit the size of the person trying to reboard.

The reason I believe it needs to go out to the end of the aka on one side is that when I tried it with both ends tied to the crossbars inside the aka joints, my feet tended to swing under the hull, making boarding pretty difficult.

BarryI also experienced that re-boarding can be pretty awkward.I made a somewhat similar, but simpler and not-always-deployed approach to that of TonyStott. I have a length of line with bowline loops at both ends. One of the loops has a 5 inch length of irrigation hose on the rope of the loop to hold it open as a stirrup. The other loop I pass over the aka, and pass the stirrup end through, to secure it to the aka, hanging down. Then, reboarding involves getting this out of the mesh pocket where I stow it, deploying it (can be done in advance if the swim is planned), stepping in the stirrup, and up to the boat or tramp. It can slide along the aka if there are not tramp-buckles preventing that, and I think that could be minimized by a longer upper loop doubled around the aka, but that may be unneeded.Mine has the disadvantage of not always be in place for quick emergency use, and the advantage of simplicity and neater stowage when not in use. It is made of lighter line, less comfortable but more compact, and plenty strong for the purpose, especially since mine has the pull directly along the rope.

I did not understand Tony's statement that because the outer loop was a bowline, one could adjust the length of the line while in the water. Resizing a bowline seems to me to involve untying it and retying, doable but not special to bowlines, and not something I'd envision doing, especially in urgent situations. Did I miss something, Tony?

If you found yourself without such an arrangement, you could probably use the mainsheet, with the sail reefed and cleated, and the length of arc hanging down into the water adjusted by cleating the mainsheet in the right place. I have not tried this, but now that I have thought of it, intend to try it as an emergency drill. For a big guy like me, it will involve quite a pull on the sheet, on both reefing and main cleats and on the sail clew attachment, more than these experience from the wind, I think, so I don't think I will make a habit of it. I don't weigh as much in the water, though, especially salt water . This would also have other problems: if you had tramps, would you be able make a big enough loop behind or in front of the akas? It will necessarily be right next to the hull, and have the problem Tony mentions of swinging under the boat.

Kirk, I mentioned that the outer bowline could be adjusted to hang the length of the stirrup initially because I haven't been able to fully test the system yet, with different size people. I envisage that I will normally leave it set up for me (6'3" and 280#) but leave the outer bowline able to be adjusted (on the inner end, I secure the bowsline by adding a small zip-tie which holds the bitter end to the main line, preventing accidental undoing of the knot).